SIOUX FALLS, SD — A South Dakota woman who created a successful iPhone app without learning a bit of programming has written a book to help other “average” people take a bite out of Apple’s lucrative App Store.
“I’m just a Midwest girl who works a normal job ... I didn’t even own a Mac, until recently!” laughs Carla White, creator of the popular “Gratitude Journal” app, which has been praised by popular sites such as Macworld and Life Hacker. Apple even secured the rights to feature White’s app in their advertising.
Her new book, Inside Secrets of an iPhone App: The Essential Non-Developer’
The books offer page after page of practical advice ... via White’s own personal journey.
For several months, she spent every morning from 5 to 7 a.m. working on “Gratitude Journal” before heading to her day job. The total cost for the project? Just $500, an amazing feat when you consider that it can cost upwards of $100,000 to create an iPhone app.
“Gratitude Journal” (http://happytapper.com) was released in December 2008 and immediately shot up to No. 2 in the Lifestyles category of iTunes’ App Store, where it remains a popular download with nearly all five-star reviews from users.
Gratitude journals have gained notoriety in recent years, thanks in part to talk show maven Oprah Winfrey, who said that that the practice “truly changed my life." The process involves writing down five things you're grateful for each night before bedtime (e.g. a baby's smile, the smell of a newly cut lawn, etc.) and reviewing those things throughout the next day. Many people also personalize their journals with photos, quotes or verses from magazines or other sources.
White’s app puts a high-tech spin on the practice, allowing users to create entries that are searchable and can be emailed to friends and family. Users can add photos to go along with their daily entries and “rate” each day on a scale of one to five stars. Entries can even be pass-code protected for privacy.
White explains, “By focusing on gratitude, you become aware of those things and thus create a shift in your thinking to the positive.”
White got the idea for her app during a trip to Cape Cod. She remembers, “I had packed my gratitude journal notebook. I thought it would be nice to have one on my iPod Touch, which can run most iPhone apps ... Ta-da!”
White says that many people have “killer ideas” for apps but don’t know where to begin. “This is not another technical manual like the usual iPhone literature,”
In the end, readers who put White’s advice into practice may be able to count their blessings ... literally. There have been 800 million total downloads on the App Store so far, and creators get 70 percent of the revenue from their apps.
Still, she concludes, “It’s creating a life of financial independence while bringing meaning and purpose to other people’s lives. I’m grateful for that.”
About Carla White and Happy Tapper
Carla White is the founder of Happy Tapper (http://happytapper.com)
